It's unfortunate that it took a group of citizens to push Environment Minister John Gerretsen out of the approval process for a wind farm on Wolfe Island. He should have bowed out long before this week - a mere three days before he was to make a final ruling on the windmill mega-project proposed by Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. ...When business and community interests collide, as they do now on Wolfe Island, citizens should not feel that campaign contributions or corn roasts may be giving their opponents any kind of real or perceived advantage with their political representatives. Gerretsen should have dismissed himself from the process long before this. It's unfortunate his own constituents forced him to do so.

It's unfortunate that it took a group of citizens to push Environment Minister John Gerretsen out of the approval process for a wind farm on Wolfe Island. He should have bowed out long before this week - a mere three days before he was to make a final ruling on the windmill mega-project proposed by Canadian Hydro Developers Inc.

Some Wolfe Islanders accused Gerretsen, who is also their MPP, of having a conflict of interest in the matter. They pointed to two occurrences:

Last summer, Gerretsen attended a corn roast on the island - a gathering at a private residence, but hosted by Canadian Hydro Developers;

and that Canadian Hydro Developers bought $1,500 worth of tickets to one of Gerretsen's fundraising dinners.

According to Ontario's integrity commissioner, Gerretsen technically had no conflict. "However," wrote acting commissioner Lynn Morrison, "both of these events appear to have created a perception that you favour one group of ministry stakeholders over another."

And what stakeholders! This is a massive project into which Canadian Hydro Developers is pouring more than $400 million. And Gerretsen is pivotal to its success. The Wolfe Islanders asked for an environmental assessment, which an official in Gerretsen's ministry denied. So they appealed directly to Gerretsen, who was to rule on Monday.

Which makes it puzzling why Gerretsen would have gone to a private function hosted by Canadian Hydro Developers. Granted, he wasn't the environment minister at the time. Still, he was the local MPP, and not without interest and influence in the matter.

We're not being naive here. It would be ridiculous to think that politicians should never have contact with corporate officials. We would expect Gerretsen to have discussions about the project with Hydro representatives, just as he would meet with islanders and other constituents who might express their concerns.

But knowing some Wolfe Island residents were questioning the project, he should have met with company officials in his office, not at a privately hosted reception. There are less suspicious ways than that to gather information. The optics just aren't good. Citizens expect their politicians to be businesslike and distanced from interested parties, not chummy with them.

As for the fundraising dinner, it might have been impolite to deny Canadian Hydro Developers $1,500 worth of tickets to the event. On the other hand, a donation is a donation. And once Gerretsen realized the company had become a contributor, alarm bells should have gone off.

Gerretsen did nothing wrong under the law. But the donation exposes a serious flaw that was eliminated in the federal realm in 2003 when former prime minister Jean Chretien ended corporate and union donations and restricted individual contributions to $5,400. It was a bold move that Premier Dalton McGuinty should emulate.

When business and community interests collide, as they do now on Wolfe Island, citizens should not feel that campaign contributions or corn roasts may be giving their opponents any kind of real or perceived advantage with their political representatives. Gerretsen should have dismissed himself from the process long before this. It's unfortunate his own constituents forced him to do so.

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